‘The Bradys’ Is a Truly Wild Pop Culture Artifact That Needs to Stream on CBS All Access

Reality check for everyone who came-of-age in a world void of floppy-haired teen idol Davy Jones: every wild thing the Tanners have done across 12 seasons of Full House and Fuller House, the Bradys have been there and done that. The Brady Bunch was the original goofy family sitcom stuffed with hijinks and set in an overcrowded house that somehow only felt cramped when an a plot demanded it. With every improbable celebrity cameo, heartfelt parental monologue, and awkward growing pain, The Brady Bunch laid the foundation for all the ’80s family shows and TGIF sitcoms that followed.

But the Bradys revolutionized the family sitcom format in another way, a way that Full House would also parrot in the 21st century: the Bradys kept coming back back back again! Now, to celebrate the show’s 50th anniversary, a truly comprehensive DVD box set stuffed with dozens of discs is available. The Brady Bunch: 50th Anniversary Collection (available now, y’all!) includes every episode of 4 Brady shows and all 5 Brady movies, including the hilarious ’90s updates. This is a big deal because while you can stream the original Brady Bunch on Prime Video, Hulu, and CBS All Access, no streaming service has every episode.

But here’s the real gag: the box set includes all 6 episodes of the very short-lived 1990 revival The Bradys–which was an hourlong drama starring all of the Brady kids as adults! This show has not been seen in its entirety for almost 30 years, making it a real lost pop culture artifact that is worth excavating. And TBH, it’s worth excavating your DVD player to watch it.

Hot off the heels of the 1988 surprise hit TV movie A Very Brady Christmas (available to stream on Hulu), CBS ordered a spinoff series in the vein of popular nighttime adult dramas like thirtysomething. The entire original cast came back, except for Maureen McCormick; Leah Ayres stepped into the role of Marcia for what can only be described as the hardest chapter in the character’s life. So, soak this in for a sec: the silliest sitcom of the early ’70s came back with the original cast, from the original creators, but in an entirely different genre! After watching these lost-for-decades episodes, I can report, The Bradys is as completely bananas as that sounds!

Think of a hot topic and The Bradys goes there. Cindy dates an older man, Peter has massive commitment issues, Jan worries about her fertility, Mike runs for office, Marcia gets a drinking problem, and race car driver Bobby suffers spinal injuries that leave him paralyzed as the result of a grisly car crash! Not only did The Bradys do all that, it did it in true Brady fashion–with sitcom jokes and very neat resolutions by the end of every episode! For instance, while helping Bobby out with his physical therapy, elderly Alice quips, “I was here when you were learning to walk the first time around!” !!!!!

As if this contrast of tones wasn’t enough, the hourlong drama suddenly added in a laugh track in episode 4, making it quite possibly the only hourlong show in the history of television to contain canned laughter. That way viewers know to laugh at a goofy one-liner just a few seconds after Bobby tears into Peter about how that car accident didn’t strip him of dignity. I love this show.

The Bradys did not last long, as it ironically went up against Full House and Family Matters–two shows that may have never existed in the first place without The Brady Bunch establishing the TGIF tone decades earlier. But watching The Bradys 29 years later, you actually have to wonder if it too was ahead of its time. Fuller House is not a drama at all, but it–like The Bradys!–drops those all-grown-up kid characters into very adult situations. A show like The Bradys could maybe work today, and that’s why it’s great that it is finally out in the world again.

So here’s my plea, to CBS All Access in particular: add The Bradys to your streaming options. We know the episodes have been digitized! They’re out of the floral decal-covered vault! And if you’re wary of giving away these goods for free(ish, people still have to pay for All Access), then please put up the two-part Bradys premiere. Every single Brady fan, every TV fan, needs to experience this wonderfully wacky and adventurous attempt to bring the most ’70s show ever into the dramatic ’90s! Be like Councilman Mike Brady and give the citizens what they want and what they need!

Stream The Brady Bunch on Prime Video

Stream The Brady Bunch on Hulu

Stream A Very Brady Christmas on Hulu

Stream The Brady Bunch on CBS All Access